Charges filed in Emery fatal shooting

A 33-year-old Emery County man is facing multiple charges in connection with a July 28 shooting that left a 22-year-old woman dead at his home in Ferron.

Randy John Behling was charged Monday in Seventh District Court by the Emery County Attorney's office with manslaughter, reckless endangerment and possession of a weapon by an intoxicated person.

The charges were filed in connection with the death of A'Lisa Weston, who died of a gunshot wound in the chest at the defendant's residence. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.

Behling was booked in Emery County Jail but released to the custody of a halfway house.

"This tragedy is going to affect the community and the two families involved," said Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk. "We have sent a number of items out for testing. I cannot comment until we have the results of these tests back. That could take weeks."

The Sheriff continued, "There were blood draws taken, forensic evidence and other items sent for testing. Until the results come back we aren't going to speculate on what has transpired."

Sheriff Funk said that there were two people involved in the incident - Behling and Weston. There was one gun shot at the residence in Ferron. A 911 call came in to dispatch that said there had been a gunshot. Deputy Tyson Huntington immediately responded with back-up which included Funk and Capt. Kyle Ekker. Det. John Barnett investigated the scene.

The body of the woman was sealed in a bag and taken by a mortuary to the Medical Examiners office in Salt Lake where testing was completed and the body released to the family.

"It will take six-eight weeks to get the autopsy report back," said Funk. "We executed a search warrant for the residence on July 29. We did trajectory testing. We believe alcohol was a contributing factor in the circumstances surrounding this death.

"Until we have all the facts we don't have the truth of what happened," he said. "There were two people involved and one is dead and the other is in jail."

Rumors about the Saturday shooting have run rampant through both counties.

"The rumors are hurting both families and devastating them," said Sheriff Funk.

Editor's Note: To avoid prejudicial pretrial publicity for victims and suspects in crimes, and to assure accuracy in reporting for their readers, the Sun Advocate and Emery County Progress do not publish rumors or unsubstantiated allegations in news coverage.